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Tying it Together

This week, the documentary team met twice, as we endeavoured to make meaning out of our previously gleaned material, while preserving additional footage of the iCreate pilot project. We are nearing the end of our documentary process, and as a result, our range of tasks are becoming more and more pressing. As our June 12th symposium draws ever closer, our group must continue to film, record, write, edit, and finalize the results of what we have documented. We have to wrestle with what we’ve already recorded, while reaching ever ahead to find more material to fit into our stories.

On Monday, then, we began by examining a preliminary edit of our Whitney Pier footage. Michael MacDonald and I had attempted to impose a narrative form upon the materials we had gathered. However, throughout the editing process, it became clear that many essential questions remained. Our interviews with the Whitney Pier youth had been fairly rushed, and we lacked the narrative elements we needed to cobble together a coherent narrative arc.

As our group examined the footage, we realized that we hadn’t truly documented the who, the what, or the why of our story. The dots remained unconnected, as we hadn’t yet documented an explanation for what had appeared before us. While looking at the first edit, we thought, The Whitney Pier group is playing theatre games. But why? How does this connect to their ultimate goal?

As a group, then, we formulated some interview questions for Todd Hiscock, the facilitator of the Whitney Pier group. I later fielded these collaboratively formed questions to Todd, and his responses provided the answers and cohesion we needed to pull the footage together. Sometimes, all you need is a five minute interview to illuminate all that you need to tie up a story.

On Wednesday, the documentary team met once again to document the Glace Bay group. This time, we entered our documentation space with a little more preparation. We had made arrangements for longer, more detailed interviews, and were able to focus our attention on one youth from the Glace Bay group, as he recorded his rap in the CBU recording studio. And so, some of the team caught the video and sound inside the studio, while others prepared for their on-camera interviews. The Glace Bay group generously offered their time and their thoughts, and gave us some pretty compelling interview materials to work with.

Afterwards, the documentary team proceeded to map out a plan for the piece we will eventually edit together, while developing some exciting ambitions for independent side projects. Can we edit together all that we hope to record? It may be a challenge, but I remain optimistic!